


Riptide AU Snippets

by Kerkerian



Category: Riptide (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon Divergence, Domestic, Established Relationship, Family, Fluff, Humour, Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:01:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23634283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kerkerian/pseuds/Kerkerian
Summary: This is going to be a collection of mostly short scenes which are referring to my story "Immutable Like The Laws Of Physics", so it will probably make more sense if you've read that. Each of these can stand alone and aren't necessarily following a consecutive timeline. Rating may go up eventually.
Relationships: Cody Allen/Nick Ryder
Comments: 20
Kudos: 47





	1. A Special Kind of Anniversary (1997)

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Riptide.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grace comes home from college for a few days. It's not an ordinary visit.

Grace closed the door of the car, waved at her friend once more and walked up the short drive. Both the Jimmy and the Vette were there, meaning everybody was home. The house was deserted however; after putting her bags into her old room and looking around, Grace spotted movement in the garden. Quietly, she pushed the patio doors open; her dad and Nick were digging over one of the flower beds, talking and laughing. Their old dog Sarge, which was short for Sergeant Murphy, was lying on the lawn close by, dozing.

For a while, Grace just stood and watched them, but then Sarge lifted his head, woofing once and wagging his tail while he slowly got to his feet. Gracie went to meet him; Sarge was fourteen now, and while he was still healthy, his age was showing.

“Hello, baby,” she greeted him, crouching down to cuddle him, “I've missed you!”

Which had obviously gone both ways, so it took a while until the delighted dog calmed down.

Cody and Nick had meanwhile come over too.

“What are you doing here?” Cody asked, hugging his daughter and kissing her when she got up, “you're half a day early!”

“Hi Dad! I wanted to surprise you,” she said. “But I can come back later, if that's better for you.”

“Don't listen to your dad,” Nick now said, hugging and kissing Grace as well, “hi, Shrimp.”

“Hi, Bunny.” She smiled and kissed him back. “Happy Easter.”

Cody pulled her close once more: “Come here, honey. I'm so happy to see you!”

“I know.” She kissed him. “Likewise.”

"How did you get here?"

"My friend Terry's dad gave me a lift. We took the same flight."

"Oh, good!"

Grace subdued a grin: her dad would have come all the way to Massachusetts to pick her up if she'd allow him to do so.

Once they had let go of one another, Cody rubbed his hands: “I'll go and make some coffee.”

Grace and Nick looked at each other once he'd disappeared in the house: “It's nice that you came early,” Nick said in an undertone. “He was over the moon ever since he knew you were gonna be here for Easter.”

Smiling, Grace shook her head: “When have I ever missed Easter with you guys? Besides- it's our fifteenth anniversary this year. Of course I was gonna come home.”

Nick was touched: “You're keeping tabs on that?” he asked softly.

“How could I not?” Grace's expression was so fond that Nick felt his eyes getting moist.

“Okay,” he said, clearing his throat. “Let's go inside, huh?” But he put his arm around Grace as they walked into the house, followed by Sarge who was happy to have his whole family together.

Cody had just put the coffee pot on the kitchen island when Grace and Nick came in. Cody looked at him: “You okay?”

“Ask the kid,” Nick only said, clearing his throat once more.

Grace didn't quite manage to look contrite: “I just told him that it's our fifteenth anniversary this year.”

Cody slowly broke into a smile: “Oh, yeah. Can you believe it?”

“Feels longer,” Nick said.

“Yeah.” Cody's smile deepened. “Gracie was just learning how to ride her bike when you moved in. And now look at you,” he regarded his daughter with unconcealed pride. “You're all grown up and in college! And you can still make Nick cry in under three seconds.”

Nick chose to ignore him and reached for the coffee instead.

“I'll be right back.” Grace left the kitchen and went to her room, opening one of the bags she'd brought.

In the kitchen, she sat down opposite of Nick and Cody, who habitually were sitting next to each other, and put a large, gift-wrapped parcel on the table in front of them: “This is for you both.”

Cody looked from the present to her: “But it's not even Easter yet.”

“Doesn't matter. Come on, open it!”

Carefully, they unwrapped what turned out to be a photo album. On the cover, it said “Best Of”, and in it was a handpicked selection of pictures from the past fifteen years, starting with one that they had taken on Nick's 31st birthday, right there in the kitchen, and ending with a picture taken at Christmas in the previous year. Grace got up again to look over their shoulders while they slowly turned page after page, talking about the respective photos: “Look how tiny Sarge was!” “Little fur ball...”

“Oh, I remember this, your seventh birthday. We wanted to take the Riptide out and then it was raining cats and dogs for three days straight.” “Yeah... The party was great though.” “It was. Though you refused to take off your life vest the whole day.” “It was a matter of principle!”

“Halloween 1986. We totally rocked the Blues Brothers.” “Gracie did. _We_ looked like dorks with shades.”

On the last page, Grace had written: “Thanks for everything. You're the best parents a kid could have.”

“Thank you, honey,” Cody said tightly, his eyes swimming,

“See who's snivelling now?” Nick asked, blinking furiously.

“Yeah, I don't know how she's doing it...”

Grace hugged them both: “I love you.”

After dinner, they made themselves comfortable in the living room, Nick and Cody on one couch, Grace and Sarge on the other. Grace told Nick and Cody about college life and they made plans for Easter.

“Tomorrow: the traditional egg painting and decorating of the trees,” Nick said.

“Plural,” Cody pointed out. “I think we've got about a gazillion eggs by now. Didn't we start with a dozen?”

“Yeah, well... other people go crazy around Christmas...”

“True. At least this doesn't need any electricity.”

“Anyway. On Sunday we'll relocate to King Harbor.”

“Yay!” Grace sighed. “I can't wait.”

“We thought we'd have a barbecue, Murray and the gang are coming too.”

“Sounds perfect.” Grace slid down the cushions a little, eliciting a grunt from Sarge. “I'm really glad to be home.”

“You're not unhappy though, are you?” Cody asked after a moment.

“At school? No. And I'm so busy usually that I don't have the time to be homesick. But... you know. It makes you appreciate this even more when you're away.” Grace smiled. She had had a lot of fun making the photo album, and it had once more made her realize how special her home was: it was always providing a safe harbor. It was something she could count on.

It was almost impossible to look back and remember the time before Nick had come into their lives again; she knew that her dad had always been there for her, and that notion had never changed. With Nick though, they had quickly become an even stronger unit, a real family. She had still maintained the occasional contact with her mom and had also met her, but Janet had remained a stranger, and Grace hadn't once felt the need to get to know her better. Nick however had given her the same kind of attention and unconditional love as her dad pretty much from the beginning, and she had always felt as safe and secure in his presence as she did with her father.

She had been very young when Nick had moved in with them, and she hadn't immediately understood that he and her dad were more than friends. When they eventually told her that they were in love with each other, she was happy (and rather disappointed that they weren't getting married, because she'd have loved to be their flower girl), and she didn't think twice about it that Nick had taken to sleeping in the same bed as her dad, because by then, she had accepted him as her second parent, and parents were sleeping in the same bed, after all.

She only understood the implications of this much later; it explained why some of the neighbours kept their distance or why some of the kids at school laughed at her when she told them she had two dads. Nick always seemed worried when Grace talked about these things, but her dad used to get a stubborn look on his face and tell her to ignore those guys, which she did, and at one point, the teasing stopped simply because it didn't evoke the reaction they'd hoped for. But even though Grace was a self-assured little girl, it wasn't always easy to turn a deaf ear, and she was just glad to have her friend Julie, who was always sticking up for her and vice versa. Julie's mom Joyce, who was a single parent, wasn't biased at all, on the contrary: she was working a lot and therefore rather grateful that her daughter was in good hands whenever she was at Gracie's.

She now looked at her dad, who was also lost in thoughts, apparently: “Was it hard?” she heard herself asking without any conscious decision to do so.

Cody raised his eyebrows questioningly: “Was what hard, honey?”

Grace gestured at Nick, who had closed his eyes and appeared to be dozing: “This whole parenting thing. You know, as a same-sex couple. I didn't realize it at the time, but it must have been difficult.”

Cody considered this: “Sometimes, yes. Most people were okay with it though, or at least tolerated it. Why do you ask?”

“I just wanna know.” Grace shrugged. “I overheard Lindsay tell someone about me on the phone the other day, and she made it sound very exotic that I have two dads.” Lindsay was her roommate and had been raised in a rather conservative household, from what Grace knew.

Momentarily, Cody's expression softened, and he glanced at Nick, who didn't stir, then he sighed: “Well, there were some people who made it very clear that they thought we belonged in prison, and... I never told you that, but do you remember Howard, our old neighbour?”

“Yes?”

“Once he realized that someone could be a decorated vet and still be queer, he probably had a fit. So he wrote to the principal of your school, who then called me.”

“Really?” Grace sat up. “When was this?”

“Oh, you were about seven or eight. Howard also tried to get a petition in the neighbourhood going, to make us move. Luckily though, nothing much came of it, and half a year later, he had that stroke.”

“How come I never knew this?” Grace asked, awed.

Cody gave her an apologetic smile: “Because you're the child. It's our job to protect you from such things.”

Grace shook her head: “And what did the principal say?”

“He was great, actually. We met in his office, and he told me that he wished all of the pupils were as happy and balanced and well-looked after as you obviously were. It turned out that his younger brother was gay and had tried to kill himself because of that.”

“God, really?”

“Yeah. So we were lucky, because Principal Higgins had our backs, and that kinda smoothed the way; by the time you went to middle school, our private life seemed less of an issue for the people around us. Well, and then there was the Gulf War, of course. Kinda shifted the general focus somewhat.”

Grace was silent for a while. “I had no idea,” she eventually said.

“That's the plan.” Cody regarded her with a contemplative smile. “You know, Nick was much more concerned about all those things than I initially was. Even while he was still in that rehab facility, he worried about stuff like that and how it might affect you, and I kept saying we'll deal with it as we go along. I was really naïve, or maybe I didn't want to hear it at the time. All in all though, it could have been worse.”

“Probably,” Grace agreed. “I'm glad.”

“Me too.”

“Apart from those jerks at school, I never felt like people were discriminating against us,” Grace then said. “For me, you two were my rocks, and our family felt normal. Still does.”

Cody's smile deepened: “Why do I get the impression there's a but coming on?”

“No but.” Grace shrugged. “I was gonna say something about grandma and grandpa though. I may not have picked up the other stuff, but I knew that grandma and grandpa were acting very awkward for a while. But then we went to visit them for Christmas one year and afterwards, everything was much more relaxed.”

“You noticed that?”

“'Course!” Grace gave him a stern look. “I was young, not stupid.”

“Fair enough.” Cody grinned, then he ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah... When I finally told my parents what was really going on, I thought my dad was gonna be the next person to have a stroke. But that Christmas... I think they just kinda fell in love with Nick, you know?” He grinned. “Well, _love_ might be too strong a term in case of your grandpa. He barely spoke a word during those five days, but he saw how good Nick was with you, and my mom later told me that they'd never seen me so happy.”

At that, Nick shifted a little: “Yeah, I'm a saint,” he muttered without opening his eyes. “Just can't help it.”

Cody snorted: “Idiot,” he mumbled under his breath, albeit utterly affectionately.

Grace smiled: “Granny definitely loves you, Bunny.”

“I know.” Nick sounded smug. “I think she actually likes me better than your dad.”

Cody reached for his foot and squeezed it: “You wish.”

Nick just grinned, poking his toes into Cody's thigh.

Grace regarded them with an absent smile.

On the following morning, Grace was up first, making breakfast. Sarge, who had slept on her bed that night, followed her and curled up in his “snuggery”, which was a large, plush cushion under the table. When Cody and Nick came into the kitchen tousled and still in their bathrobes, everything was ready.

“Aw, you didn't have to, honey,” Cody said, pulling Grace close with one arm and kissing the top of her head.

“I wanted to,” she said, kissing him on the cheek. It had taken her a long time to fall asleep on the previous night, as she had been mulling things over.

Nick, who didn't look particularly awake yet, didn't say anything, just leaned towards her craning his neck so that she could kiss him on the cheek too. Giggling, Grace did so, then they sat down at the table.

Cody poured the coffee and Nick distributed sections of the paper. “You wanna have sports first?”

“Nah, politics is okay.”

“Front page, please. I wanna read Column One first.” “At your service.”

For a while, it was mostly silent, if comfortably so.

At one point, Grace looked up from the article she was reading, taking in the serene peace of an ordinary morning in her parents' house, and for a moment wished that Lindsay could see them.

 _Nothing exotic_ , she thought fondly. _Just home._


	2. Floatie (1982)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gracie's got a head of her own, and she doesn't want to wear a life vest, period!

“I don't want to!” Gracie folded her arms in front of her chest and shook her head in belligerent determination.

“Honey,” Cody said in a tone he didn't use often. “We talked about this. You've got to wear the life vest when you're aboard and moving about.”

“But I _won't_ fall into the water!” Gracie put out her chin. “And I can _swim_. If I fall in, I'll just swim until you pull me out.”

Nick, who was loading the dishwasher while Cody argued with his daughter, quickly ducked behind the kitchen island so Gracie wouldn't see how he desperately tried not to laugh. She was adorable even when she was this obstinate, he had to give her that. Cody had a point, of course, but according to Gracie's logic, she did too. She could swim, so she didn't see what all the fuss was about, end of discussion.

“If you hit your head, for example, you won't be _able_ to swim,” Cody said. He didn't want to scare her, but he wanted her to take the issue serious all the same.

Grace looked doubtful: “Then you and Bunny would jump in and rescue me,” she countered. Cody pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers: while her unwavering faith in her dads was touching, she was entirely too unimpressed by the potential dangers of the open sea. Secretly, Cody was proud of her moxie, and he didn't want her to develop any fears, of course, but her safety had to come first.

“If you don't wear the vest, we can't sail,” he eventually said.

Gracie's eyes widened at that, but she didn't budge. “You and Bunny are not wearing a vest either,” she pointed out.

“That's because we're adults,” Cody said, pointedly not looking at Nick right then.

“That's unfair! You could hit your heads and fall in too!”

Cody took a deep breath: “Do you remember how you learned how to swim?”

“Yes?” Gracie's tone was wary.

“You had to wear swimmies at first, and then, when you were more confident in the water, you didn't need them anymore.”

“Only that one time at the beach because of the big waves.”

Cody couldn't help his smile: “Yes, but that was an exception, right?”

“Yes.”

“See- with the vest, it's similar. You've got to wear it for a certain amount of time, and once you're older, you don't have to do it anymore.”

“How much older?”

“Maybe... when you're twelve?”

Gracie stared at him: “Twelve?” she all but shrieked and started to cry. “That's unfair!”

Nick closed the dishwasher and leaned against the counter: “Maybe we should all wear a vest the first time we take the boat out,” he said calmly.

“But I don't want to,” Gracie sniffled. She drew herself to her full height: “Come on, Nelson, we're going outside.”

“This discussion isn't over, little lady,” Cody said, but Gracie only glared at him: “But I can swim, and if I have to wear that stupid vest, I don't want to go on that stupid boat!” With that, she left.

Cody gasped, looking at Nick: “Did you hear that?” He got to his feet in order to follow the little girl, but Nick raised his hands appeasingly: “Let her cool off. She'll come round.”

“She talked back to me like a teenager,” Cody replied. “She needs to apologize, if you ask me.”

“I'm sure she will.” Nick smiled. “She knows you were serious about not taking the boat out, she'll see reason.”

“The question is when,” Cody muttered darkly.

The marina looked utterly inviting when they arrived on the following morning: the sea was beckoning and the boats gleamed in the sun, promising a beautiful summer's day.

Gracie and Cody had settled the matter on the previous evening, and the little girl had promised to wear her vest on the strict condition that she was allowed to take it off whenever she went below. “Even if I only need to go to the bathroom, Daddy,” she said. “What's that called again?”

“Head.”

“Even if I only need to go to the head.” She giggled. “Okay?”

“Okay.”

“And you and Bunny are going to wear a vest too.”

“Deal.”

While Cody slowly and proudly steered the Riptide out to sea for the first time, Nick and Gracie stood next to him in the wheelhouse. Sans vest in Gracie's case, because they were inside.

“Wanna go out to the front and have a look?” Nick asked Gracie once they were out on the open sea.

“Bow,” Cody muttered.

Gracie shook her head: “No thanks. I'd like to stay here.”

Cody exchanged a look with Nick, then regarded her: “Because you'd have to put on your vest going outside?”

“Yes,” she beamed at him. “But in here, I don't have to. So I'll stay here.”

Sighing, Cody shook his head.

“I think it's time for plan B,” Nick later said while Gracie was in the head. The Riptide was anchoring in a bay off Catalina; the sea was completely calm, and they had already seen some dolphins in the distance.

Cody frowned: “You think it'll work?”

“If we don't want Gracie to spend the rest of the weekend inside, we should at least give it a try,” Nick said, shrugging.

Hesitantly, Cody nodded: “I'm afraid you're right. Sorry. I don't know how she became so pigheaded...”

Nick looked amused: ”Really? I'd say something about chips and old blocks, but I don't wanna risk having to sleep on the stern bench tonight.”

Cody snorted: “Good thinking, pal.”

Right then, Gracie came back: “Where are my crayons, Daddy? I want to sit here in the galley and draw.”

“In a minute,” Cody said. “First, we're going to celebrate our first trip on the Riptide with a toast.”

“You're not gonna give a speech, are you?” Nick asked while Gracie scrunched up her nose in distaste: “Are you going to drink bubbly?”

Muttering something about philistines, Cody took three cans out of the fridge: “We're not that classy,” he said, grinning. “But these will do. We're gonna drink beer, Gracie, and look what I've got for you in honor of the occasion.”

Gracie's expression lit up when she saw the cola, since she didn't get to drink it often: “Thanks, Daddy!” Her face fell however when her dads moved towards the stairs: “Where are you going?”

“To the fantail,” Nick said. “You coming?”

She considered it: “Do I have to wear my vest?”

Cody, who secretly admired his daughter's tenacity, only barely managed to keep a straight face: “We can make an exception for once. But only because this is special, okay?”

Gracie nodded, beaming, and watched Nick and Cody as they put on their vests.

On the fantail, they toasted to the Riptide and the beautiful day, and Cody refrained from giving a speech; he didn't have to anyway, he radiated happiness as he looked around. For a moment, Nick's and his eyes met, and they both thought the same: neither of them had ever expected this to become reality, but here they were. Both of them smiled.

“So,” Cody said a little while later, once they had all finished their drinks. “Are you going to wear your vest from now on, honey?”

“No,” Gracie shook her head. “I don't need it, I can swim!”

“But you promised me you'd wear it.”

“I was joking.”

"We had a deal, young lady."

“Okay,” Nick said airily, precluding the impending argument. “Do you wanna go swimming any time soon?”

“Yes! Please, can we go swimming now?”

“Why not? This place is perfect.” Cody subdued a grin. “Go and change into your bathing suit, okay, honey?”

“Okay!” She climbed up the ladder to the wheelhouse and disappeared below. Cody and Nick, who were already wearing their swim shorts, took off the vests, then their t-shirts and put the vests back on. “I can see why Gracie's against it,” Nick muttered. Cody nodded, flashing him a grin.

When Gracie reappeared a minute later, Cody climbed down the ladder first and reached up to help his daughter, but Gracie protested: “I want to jump in, Daddy!”

“Okay.”

With a splash, Gracie landed in the water and immediately began to swim. Nick followed her, and soon, they were all swimming side by side, Gracie in the middle. After one lap around the boat, Cody stopped and leaned back, floating comfortably due to the vest: “Ah, this is the life.”

Nick imitated him: “Yeah, you're right. Now all we need is someone to serve us cold drinks.”

“ _I_ will do it,” Gracie volunteered. “What do you want?”

“Oh, a pina colada maybe?”

“Sounds good,” Cody agreed. “One for me too, please.”

Gracie giggled again: “Here you are. I put your drinks on the table and you can put my tips on the table too.”

“Thank you, we will!” They pretended to taste it while Gracie paddled around them: “Hmm, this is really good.”

“Can we get out now?” Gracie asked a short while later.

“Already?” Cody frowned. “We just got in.”

“My arms are getting tired,” Gracie whinged.

“Mine aren't,” Cody said, leaning his head back a bit more for emphasis. “This is really comfy. Like floating.”

“It is,” Nick said. “I think I'mma take a nap.”

Gracie pursed her lips: “But I want to get out! Now!”

“Okay. Come on.” Cody swam towards the ladder with her and helped her climb aboard: “I'll stay in the water with Nick, okay, honey?”

Gracie shook her head: “No, that's unfair!”

“Why's it unfair?”

“Because my arms were getting tired and yours aren't!”

“Well, my vest is holding me up, honey,” Cody said.

Pouting, Gracie regarded him, then she turned around and went up to the wheelhouse. Cody looked at Nick, who grinned: “Five... four... three...“

Cody shook his head: “I feel like a backstabbing traitor.”

“Yeah, I noticed she's got her penchant for drama from you.”

Cody glared at him, but right then, Gracie reappeared, her vest in hand: “I am going to put on my vest,” she announced. “But only because I want to float and have a pinkolada too!”

“Of course. Good idea, honey.” Cody smiled.

That night, as Cody tucked Gracie in, she played with Nelson's ears as she always did when she had something on her mind: “Daddy?”

“Yes?”

“I liked floating.”

“I'm glad to hear it. So the vest isn't as bad as you thought, huh?”

“No...” She sounded cautious now.

“Good.” Cody regarded her seriously: “Because you _are_ going to wear it, end of discussion. I know you can swim, but if you did fall in without anybody noticing it, you'd be in serious trouble, especially if the boat's moving. Today, you realized how quickly your arms and legs can get tired from swimming, right?”

She nodded meekly.

“Okay. And that's why you need the vest, not just for fun.”

“I know.” She seemed contrite.

“So?” Cody asked, a tiny smile playing around the corners of his mouth. “Can I assume that your earlier promise is still valid?”

“Yes.”

“And you do know that you've got to take promises very serious, right?”

“Yes,” Gracie said again, all but lunging towards him and winding her arms around him: “I'm sorry, Daddy.”

Cody briefly closed his eyes, basking in her affection: “That's alright, honey. I'm glad we settled the matter.”

Nick was already in bed when Cody entered their stateroom; since it was their first night at sea, it had taken a while for Gracie to settle down.

Cody quickly got ready as well and crawled under the covers and into Nick's arms: “Plan worked, and I had a successful talk with the little miss.”

“Good,” Nick smiled into Cody's hair. “She's something else...”

“Yeah.” Cody chuckled softly.

“Listen,” Nick then said. “It's so calm...”

For a while, they remained silent, enjoying the peace.

“Pinch me?” Cody eventually muttered. “I still can't believe this is real.”

Nick laughed quietly: “ _I_ still can't believe we're going to have to wear our life vests all the time to hold up our end of the deal.”

Cody snorted: “Oh yeah, she's not gonna let us off that hook so soon.”

“We'll figure something out...”

“Or maybe I'll just be sterner from now on.”

“Right,” Nick said, earning himself a pinch.

“ _Hey_ , I'm not the one who asked to be pinched.”

“I beg to differ.” At the same time though, Cody tightened his hold on his partner: “Hey, Nick?”

“Hm?”

“Glad I'm not doing this on my own.”

“Oh yeah, that'd be boring.”

Cody pressed a kiss on Nick's chest: “You got no idea.”

Nick ran his hand over Cody's shoulders in gentle circles: “Ditto,” he said softly.

They didn't speak anymore after that, only listened to the soft sounds of the water against the hull and each other's heartbeats, both of which eventually lulled them to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, I hope you're all well! I admit I've mainly been macgyvering when I've been writing lately, but I didn't abandon our lovely boys. =)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
